Brigitte Bardotfor everyone simply BB, she died at the age of 91. She was the French national myth, the only one who in these times would bring together all the quarrelsome souls of the nation, a symbol of charm, an icon of French cinema, an emblem of the Nouvelle Vague even if her last appearance as an actress and sex symbol dates back to over 50 years ago. Since then the diva has never had a second thought: cinema, entertainment, fame and paparazzi were no longer for her, indeed they were never happy companions in her life as a public woman.
ANSA Agency Capri pays homage to Brigitte Bardot with Godard’s ‘Contempt’ – Cinema – Ansa.itSince 1974 she had extinguished gossip and passions: she married in 1992 Bernard D’Ormale (her fourth husband and a leading exponent of Jean-Marie Le Pen’s National Front in the south of France), a reassuring businessman and an animal lover like her. In recent years dogs, cats and goats have lived peacefully in his villa and the foundation that bears his name has been fighting for the protection of animals for decades. A rebellious and independent character, incapable of staying within the confines of convention, whether it was sex or love, political ideas or social commitment, recently, telling a journalist about herself, she had pointed out: “I am not a hermit! I read the newspapers, I watch TV, I remain vigilant and I observe this world becoming a circus. The way we treat our planet is abominable: global warming, floods, an explosive demographic…”.
Bardot was born in Paris on 28 September 1934 from a wealthy bourgeois family. Her father, an industrialist, gave her a strict and strictly Catholic education, her mother preferred her younger sister, she found serenity only in the classical dance courses which led her to enroll at the Conservatory, encouraged by her mother. Her father enjoys filming her in many amateur films and she herself notices her natural photogenic nature, accentuated by a childhood disease (amblyopia) which gives her an uncertain and lost look. Elle’s director, a family friend, convinces her to do some photo shoots and, in short, the girl discovers herself as a teenager’s idol. Intellectuals and artists pass through the house and a great talent scout like the director Marc Allegret writes her up for an audition: Brigitte is still a minor, her parents don’t want it and the film isn’t made, but on the set she loses her head – reciprocated – by the assistant director Roger Vadim with whom she goes to live and who will be her true pygmalion. They married in 1952 and Vadim made her debut in the same year alongside Bourvil in the popular comedy “Le trou normand”.
ANSA Agency Brigitte Bardot’s fashion, from the bikini to the mini, BB’s free and sensual wardrobe – Fashion – Ansa.it Free from rigid aesthetic conventions and more distant than ever from the slicked-back divas of the fifties and sixties, Brigitte Bardot has undoubtedly changed the style rules of an era: her way of dressing and her daily wardrobe have… (ANSA)For European cinema, these were years of great change after the post-war period and new public idols emerged: in Italy the plus-sized girls, in France the light-hearted girls. Brigitte moves, without much conviction, from one set to another (mostly to pay the rent) until the now elderly Allegret entrusts her with an important role in “Crazy Girls” (1955) alongside Jean Marais. Immediately afterwards René Clair called her for “Great Maneuvers”, but the turning point brought Vadim’s signature to his debut as a director in 1956: “Too Many Like It” caused a scandal, was seen in America, BB found himself to be the European alternative to Marilyn Monroe. They are both exuberant, blonde, without complexes, they hide a profound discomfort that contributes to making them seductive and elusive. On that set, however, she meets Jean-Louis Trintignant and the two fall in love. It will be the end of the marriage with Vadim who, however, will never stop being at the side of the woman who made his fortune, especially when the wind of the Nouvelle Vague begins to blow and the young director adopts its style, from “The Moonlight Lovers” to “The Warrior’s Rest” which in 1962 caused a new international scandal for the character of Geneviève, a crazy lover indifferent to bourgeois conventions.
ANSA Agency Brigitte Bardot and that only child she didn’t want – News – Ansa.it Nicolas Charrier, now 65 years old, lives in Norway away from the spotlight (ANSA)Meanwhile, the myth of Brigitte has definitively transcended national borders and the perplexities of critics: “The Girl of Sin” by Claude Autant-Lara, “Babette Goes to War” by Christian-Jacque, “The Truth” by Henri Georges Clouzot make her an actress of great intensity and versatility. Then it is the masters of the Nouvelle Vague (Louis Malle for “Private Life” and Jean-Luc Godard with “Contempt”) who make it the emblem of the new times. From the mid-’60s to ’74 – the year of farewell – Bardot was a successful brand in almost all the films, none of which however equaled the quality of the first period, while her popularity also grew as a singer, a career which began in 1962.
However, success, stardom and scandal profoundly marked his personality, forced in public to be the sex symbol of the decade. After Vadim and the relationship with Trintignant she lined up young or famous lovers, from the singers Sacha Distel and Gilbert Becaud, from Raf Vallone to the playboy Gigi Rizzi, she married the actor Jacques Charrier (who would give her her only son, Nicholas-Jacques), she fell in love with Samy Frey during “The Truth”, she remarried the rich playboy Gunther Sachs, she started a red-hot adventure with Serge Gainsbourg (they recorded the first, highly censored version of “Je t’aime, moi non plus”), in the end he chooses solitude.
The two suicide attempts which denote a profound internal malaise, which was eventually cured by abandoning the show after around fifty films and around ten albums, will not go unnoticed. For France she remains an unshakeable icon: it is no coincidence that the official effigy of Marianne printed on all the old coins of the French franc has her profile, her proud air, her generous breasts and her hair blowing in the wind.
ANSA Agency BB’s free and sensual wardrobe, from the Bardot neckline to the bikini – News – Ansa.it In Saint Tropez her barefoot style revolution. Repetto created ballet flats for her (ANSA) ANSA Agency Bardot and the heartbreaking story of the Renault 4L that she no longer wanted to drive – Cinema – Ansa.it The death of her beloved dog pushed her to stop driving (ANSA) Reproduction reserved © Copyright ANSA
